windows 8.1 problems

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weeladdie18
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windows 8.1 problems

Post by weeladdie18 »

I am now back on line ...symptoms .... total black screen .....diagnosis.... windows 8.1 upgrade not accepted by my system.....back to workshop....
First attempt at posting after return of p.c from technician........last upgrade was a week ago......weeladdie
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by crfriend »

weeladdie18 wrote:I am now back on line ...symptoms .... total black screen .....diagnosis.... windows 8[...]
You could have stopped right there at "Windows 8". The rest is redundant. Fall back to Windwoes 7. For its foibles, at least it's reasonably stable. Windwoes 8 was -- and remains -- a steaming pile.
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Big and Bashful
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by Big and Bashful »

7 was very goo, I stayed well clear of 8 and 8.1, now running 10 64 bit on my main machine, I like it lots. I also have 10 on my laptop, but on that it is very slow. That laptop was born with Vista, it liked 7, but 10 seems too much for it, maybe 3 gig of ram isn't enough to get the best out of 10.
I also have another smaller pc (bought to be a music server) which would not install win 10, as well as an older laptop which is stuck with Vista.
It is good having older machines and versions of Windows around, it helps when trying to work with older tech, such as minidiscs, the software won't install on 64 bit win 10 without a lot of heartache, so I stuck it on one of the older machines.
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Uncle Al
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by Uncle Al »

A good friend had WIN-7 on his desktop. He then allowed it to 'upgrade' to 8.0
and on to 8.1. He had more problems than you could shake a stick at. Once he
received the WIN-10 upgrade, he's not had any major problems. None like he
had on 8.0 & 8.1. WIN-7 was(& still is)very stable. WIN-10 is almost as stable
as WIN-7, as far as he is concerned. I'm still on WIN-7 Pro(64bit) on my desktop,
and have no desire to upgrade any further.

My system ain't broke & I don't have any plans to "Fix-It".

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Fred in Skirts
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by Fred in Skirts »

OK, I am running Win 2000 on my big machine.. Yep it is that old :lol: . I will admit it is starting to show it's age but since I run a lot of DOS software that was never updated to windoze, I need it. Besides the chip set will not handle anything much past Win2000. :)
On my lap top I started with Win 8.0 it came with it, and then upgraded to Win 10 and I had to get used to it but I like it OK.
Now this is really retro computing..... :hide:
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by Darryl »

I and Micro$oft agree that one should avoid Windows 8/8.1 at all costs.

Windows 7 - stay there if you wish, but only as long as you can get security updates and antivirus/anti spyware/anti ransomware/etc.

The current Windows 10 is very good with its built-in Defender anti malware and has been called the "anti-ransomware version of Windows." It's not perfect, if you want to go in for "deep" privacy you have to turn off a bunch of "reporting" stuff. I have two work machines and my clients work with Windows 10 and Server 2016. Keep them updated and don't install/uninstall junkware, do your homework and get good (ok, usually pricey) software and you should be good to go.

That said, as I get closer to retirement, I have begun switching over to Linux and Libre Office, and can do most of what I want to do. A couple programs work under WINE, and the other option is to install it on one of my "clean" pen-testing VMs (Win 7, 8.1 and 10).

But keep things updated, even Linux, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Chrome and so on. Even an air-gapped system can be breached. Encrypt your data. Use good passwords. Use two-factor authentication...yadda-yadda-yadda....and keep on skirting.
weeladdie18
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by weeladdie18 »

Thank you for your comments gentlemen. My new PC was fitted with windows 8.1 approx. 3 years ago ....Problems with anti virus and windows
upgrade.....perhaps the answer is to upgrade to windows 10......is this a sensible way forward ?
......I am now using a different computer technician ... thank you for your comments..............weeladdie
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by weeladdie18 »

As far as I can remember, my previous P C ran for seven years and then failed . Probably was windows 7 .....I am not clear why my new system was
fitted with windows 8.1 and not windows 10...... As far as I am aware , ....windows 10 was in existence when the new package was sold
to me......there is another story regarding the owner of Penzance Computers . .....However resolving my problems come before other
issues......It does seem that the flaws in windows 8.1 will never be resolved with updates...................weeladdie
Darryl
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by Darryl »

weeladdie18 wrote:As far as I can remember, my previous P C ran for seven years and then failed . Probably was windows 7 .....I am not clear why my new system was
fitted with windows 8.1 and not windows 10...... As far as I am aware , ....windows 10 was in existence when the new package was sold
to me......there is another story regarding the owner of Penzance Computers . .....However resolving my problems come before other
issues......It does seem that the flaws in windows 8.1 will never be resolved with updates...................weeladdie
Windows 8/8.1 has no future and is a "second class" citizen. Total dead end. If it will successfully upgrade to Windows 10 go for it, but you may have to do a "clean install" (if the hardware meets minimums, anyway). As for it coming with 8.1 instead of 10....dealer had to get rid of old stock, likely.

1. Do a memory test - should be one in BIOS.
2. Do an "offline" disk check, booting to DOS (for instance) and running chkdsk c: /v/f to look for and try to fix bad sectors.
3. If there is a "built-in" set of Diagnostics on the machine, it would be worth running those as well.

If you get past those, the you could try upgrading or "clean" installing Windows 10.

My 2 oldest machines came with Windows Vista, which worked fine for me by the way, and I upgraded them to 8, 8.1 and 10 but they weren't expandable in re RAM memory and were 2007 technology. They do a good job as Linux "cannon fodder" and so long as they work they'll have a place for browsing the dark web or for use by visitors.

A top-end gaming laptop I got in 2009 with 4 Gb ram still does a great job and now runs Windows 10 Pro version 1809 (latest release). I'm keeping it for now because while I have a good backup, it is running an not-so-old but irreplaceable program which I can get by without, but so long as the machine works, I'll keep it.

The biggest problem is "bit rot" as the machine ages. apps are installed, uninstalled and maybe reinstalled, drives get a wee bit out of spec, etc. I only install "core" software that is absolutely necessary. Anything being tried out or I am less than certain about goes onto a VM until I decide to really install it or toss it. Hard drives can still fail, so I've a full image backup once a week to my home server and files in daily use ("Documents") are in "Continuous Data Protection" and backed up to the web where the last 10 versions of the file are available. It works. Other than the MTBF for hard disks, most machines will work fine a long time, but they may not be up to running Windows and Office, and with the uncertainty about both, along with their pricing, My fallback for post-retirement will likely be Open Source, which may include running any "indispensable" Windows programs in a VM, making it portable.
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by Kilty »

8gb RAM is sufficient for Windows 10, 4 is adequate and doable. A Core i3 CPU is fine, I have even had machines which were designed for Windows 7, run 10 with no problem. Just beware of 10's OCD of big updates and disk checks upon shutdown / startup every so often :roll: Office 365 part installs in the Cloud (web servers) and part on the hard drive of the PC, saving disk space. Beware of "crapware" like very expensive virus scanners (usually needing subscription) where Windows' own Defender does the same thing :wink:
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by Big and Bashful »

I use office 365 at home, the only way I have found to be able to edit documents on both pc and iPad. They have now inflicted Office 365 on us at work, I would be more than happy with that, only when using the work s version of Onedrive or Sharepoint, one of those things, whenever I open a document it defaults to using the cut-down on line versions of Word, Excel etc. Annoying because these on line versions are far less useable, cannot display many things in documents and to my annoyance they also save as you work, so you can't load a document, work on it then save it with a new name. So many times I open a file, swear, close it then open it again with the proper versions of Word etc.
Just to wind me up further, when trying to find documents stored on the server (or in the Cloud I suppose), many none Microsoft applications just can't see the files, so you have to crawl into the cloud, find the document, throw it at your PC's hard disk, then switch to the programme that needs the file. So much for making things easier! You have to do this everytime you want to attach a file to an email, even in Microsoft Outlook. I can't blame Microshaft for this, I blame our Government contractors that can take any wonderful piece of software and make it almost completely unuseable!
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by FranTastic444 »

I had a great little laptop - an Asus Seashell. Went from 7 to 8 a while back and it caused an issue with the video driver. Display looked ok, but every minute or so I would get a pop-up telling me that there was a problem as the max resolution of the device is less than what Windoze wants to run. Apparently there are workarounds, but I may just drop Ubuntu (or something similar) onto the machine.
weeladdie18
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by weeladdie18 »

Went back to my computer technician.....best way foward is to upgrade to windows 10.
However this costs the customer Approximately £70 ,inclusive of Microsoft Licence.

Please can someone explain why this is considered to be fair trading as windows 8.1. is considered to be
a faulty product .
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by crfriend »

weeladdie18 wrote:Please can someone explain why this is considered to be fair trading as windows 8.1. is considered to be a faulty product .
Because it's Microsoft.
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weeladdie18
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Re: windows 8.1 problems

Post by weeladdie18 »

Thank you Carl, sounds par for the course ............weeladdie
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